Full Circle 2
by Kung-lou
Summary: [ch 5 added]Ranma's immortal, the Norns are meddling and boomers are still going rogue in the middle of Tokyo [RanmaAh my goddessBCG 2040]
1. Traveling Full circle

Full circle 2  
  
Ch1: Coming full circle  
  
Ranma held his stance and steadied his breathing before once again breaking out into a highly complex weapon Kata. In his hands he held two long blades that whistled as they cut through the air and shimmered in the midday sun. Ranma back flipped, continuing his Kata underneath the great oak that lay in the center of grounds inside the peaceful monastery. Now in the shadows Ranma's blades no longer shimmered but pulsed with an internal light as they struck out at shadows. Impossibly, as the blades passed through the trunk and vast branches they failed to stir even a leaf. The blades blinked in and out of existence almost two fast to see leaving the oak untouched.  
  
But then as the monks had learned nothing was impossible for this young man. The young man who had been staying at their monastery longer than most of them had been alive. Ranma continued his Kata uninterrupted, his blades becoming a double-sided axe with an accompanying shield. The change was a part of the Kata and the Grandmaster of Anything Goes thrived on change.  
  
The pulsing blue weapons wielded by the Grandmaster changed again. This time to a set of knives as his Kata took him to the Air in what would have reminded all of his old friends, dead friends now of the airborne grace that was and still is the specialty of his style.  
  
"Your control is improving Ranma as is your speed," an elderly spectator called out. "Though I must ask to what end."  
  
Ranma landed lightly before the old man having finished his kata, "the perfection of the art is an end in itself. But I doubt that it can be perfected, even after so long I'm still changing and improving it."  
  
A quick glance at the men surrounding the two quickly had them running off to what ever had them occupied before Ranma's spectacle, drawing some measure of privacy. "Even after so long you still draw the crowds, it's a wonder that we ever get anything done with you around," the old man sounded amused. "If only they had your focus, but then they are only human."  
  
Ranma bit back a retort, it was still a sore point with him. He was still human, or considered himself to be, but to others he seemed immortal, ageless even god or demon like. In any other time he would no doubt have been worshiped and in some of the more remote area's he had visited he could have stirred up a following. Had he had the desire he could have, the price of this so-called gift he had been granted with had been too dear for him to even consider something so selfish.  
  
Even thinking about doing something like that left the taste of ash in his mouth, besides he had seen the results of similar attempts to know that it was far from a good idea, he had put a stop to many of them himself. His immortality had cost him his life, sure he was still living but could he still call it life. He had no one to love, no family only his obsession with perfecting his art, an art that only he seemed to have the full knowledge of.  
  
"You know full well that I am as human as you are, I just haven't passed on yet. Does the child think the old man isn't human simply because he has lived longer?"  
  
"Yes but the child knows that he can look forward to the same lifespan as his grandfather, short of suffering a premature accident."  
  
"So call death a premature accident that everyone has, this is the reason I should have moved a long time ago." Ranma just shook his head, it was a sad fact that he couldn't stay anywhere for long without being recognized as someone other than just another young face or raising questions that he would rather avoid. It was one of the reasons he only visited the more remotely populated areas.  
  
The many monasteries he had visited were also very useful in that the monks rarely asked questions and time spent in their libraries often were more valuable than the time he could have spent traveling the world and a lot less painful.  
  
"I know that this isn't the first monastery you've visited over the years Ranma, and I have heard rumors." The old mans eyes clouded over as he considered some of the rumors he had heard over the years, he knew that anyone watching would have found it strange seeing such a wizened man showing such difference to clearly a boy not far from his teens but the rumors he had heard of Ranma painted a very interesting picture. "How old exactly are you? Your appearance isn't the best indicator I've seen."  
  
Ranma grunted and smiled, "I remember you as a novice whose curiosity could hardly be contained. It was why you joined the brotherhood as I recall. Your curiosity could always be satisfied in this place, the library is one of the best I've seen and one of the least used. Your curiosity was one of the reasons you climbed the ranks so quickly and it has stood you in good stead."  
  
The aged man bowed his head in acknowledgement but refused to let the subject be turned to idle reminiscing about the past. At least his past, he never could get Ranma to tell him much about himself.   
  
"Even as young as I was then and as old as I am now you have not changed, how old are you Ranma? How many lifetimes have you seen, satisfy a dying mans curiosity."  
  
Ranma lurched, stumbling from his usual graceful gait and looked hard into the older mans face. "You and everyone else loves the thought of immortality, I haven't spoken to a single person throughout the years who hasn't considered it at least once. Yet who would willingly pay the price, who could comprehend the price until far too late."  
  
Ranma sat down heavily on a nearby wall and sighed, "I knew that I had stayed too long. Wherever I go it is always the same, its like humanity is dropping dead around me."   
  
"You want to know why I stayed so long, it was because I missed this." His gesture took in the entire grounds, "it is lonely wondering alone. I had a home once, a family- I probably still have a multitude of relatives running around somewhere. When my wife died, I was heartbroken but you know the worst part."  
  
The elderly man sat quietly next to the pained youth, "tell me."  
  
"At the funeral I was mistaken for one of my grandchildren, they all thought it heartless that her husband not attend the ceremony." Ranma took a shuddering breath at the remembered pain, "I was there, but no one could believe it."  
  
"It's become easier overtime to lose myself in my quest for knowledge, wisdom and the control that comes from the perfection of my art than to face losing friends and family to old age. Please don't fuel these rumors father, they only limit the places that will accept me. Not everyone thinks that my age makes me godlike, more than one demon hunter has had to be shaken from my tail."  
  
"As for my age father, lets just say that I've seem more than one century turn and leave it at that."  
  
The old man nodded, even on his deathbed he realized that he probably would not understand the magnitude of the price as Ranma described it but at his age he had an inkling and wouldn't force the issue.   
  
"Before you do leave I should tell you of a dream that has kept me awake lately. The gods must be taking a greater role in events than I previously thought for them to be giving the likes of me visions."  
  
"You are the oldest and wisest in the order, you under value yourself. Tell me of this vision." In all that Ranma had seen in his life, a vision from a god wasn't so hard to believe and he had always disliked talking about himself to others so the change of subject was welcome.  
  
"I found myself in a garden the likes I don't think I'll ever see again, I felt a colossal loss upon awaking. If that was heaven I was seeing then death is not something to be feared but embraced. A voice issued the following message, 'the immortal one must travel full circle to further his quest'. Night in, night out it has been the same and you're the only immortal one that I know no matter how much you try to deny it."  
  
Ranma just nodded in thought, he had been considering leaving for a while now but the companionship he felt for the elderly monk had held him back. He dreaded seeing the spry old man on his deathbed, he wanted to preserve the happy memories they had had together and seeing him that way would only taint them.  
  
"Do you know of its meaning Ranma?" the old man asked.   
  
The meaning seemed clear to Ranma and he had solved enough riddles in his time to know the answer to this one. Besides, for someone with unlimited time any direction was as good as another.  
  
*****  
  
Ranma couldn't believe how much the area around the Tendo dojo had changed. Sure it had been a few hundred years since he had been here but he had expected all manner of technological advances and a larger dojo not the destruction that surrounded him.   
  
Such devastation could only have been caused by a large, very violent earthquake. He had seen the results of such an earthquake before though not on such a large scale that gripped old Tokyo. The capital city of Japan had not been abandoned though but rebuild. It had moved north, the skyline was clear even above the mountains of rubble and wreckage.  
  
Which made some sense he supposed, it was easier to start from scratch rather than demolish the old to build the new. Still judging from the state of the crumbling buildings he would have guessed that it had happened about ten years ago, so why hadn't it been cleared up?  
  
Ranma shrugged as he once again turned his attentions from his surroundings to the Tendo dojo, the place that had once been his home and probably would be again. At least until people started to suspect that he wasn't like the rest of them, until people started to become afraid of his unchanging face. Then it would be time to leave.  
  
That was what scared him the most, the thought of what was left of his family rejecting him. Sure he would always have the amazons, they had become like family after Akane had died. He truly believed that they had saved his life in the years following his wife's death. They weren't however his flesh and blood.  
  
Despite the years that had followed his wife's death he had remained faithful to her memory. Not so much out of an all consuming love, at least after the first century had passed that had been the case but because he had seen how his unaging face and limitless energy had affected his aging wife.  
  
As she grew older and he had stayed same their relationship had increasingly been held together by their duel love for martial arts and by their family. If it hadn't been for those two things Ranma had no doubt in his mind that the Tendo dojo would have degenerated as it had during the fiancée mess.  
  
It was a good sign that his family had rebuilt the dojo on the same site, even if they hadn't expanded the dojo. It meant that they held the traditions or at least some of the traditions of his family alive. How much of those traditions he would find out and if necessary reinforce them. Those traditions were what defined his family and he could not, would not let them die.  
  
Enough procrastinating, he would find out what happened to his home city eventually and sitting here on top of one of the ruined remains of a skyscraper wouldn't yield any answers. Challenging at the dojo for room and board would. He would see how much of his art had been corrupted by time and what standard the current generation of his school held to.  
  
Ranma effortlessly bounded from the top of the mountainous rubble to the challenger entrance. He had never expected to approach the entrance from this side any more than he had ever contemplated challenging his own school. He youth apparent smirked, it was something the old pervert would have done and had done on occasion.   
  
The old Grandmaster had often challenged his heirs and students. Time had proven impossible to beat in the end for the old pervert though, just as it had eventually caught up to the old matriarch. It was a sad day when they had died, even if he had surpassed them both in martial arts he had never been sure that he had plumbed the depths of their knowledge. Now he would never know.  
  
Mentally preparing himself for the challenge ahead, he knocked. As Grandmaster he knew better than to underestimate even a beginner in his school. No matter how old he was, he could never be prepared for every eventuality though his school excelled in reacting quickly and making the best of even the most dire situation.  
  
The door opened reveling someone who compounded that point. Out of every possible person to have opened that door he would never have expected her.  
  
"A-Akane?" he asked in a shaken voice. It wasn't possible and on an intellectual level he denied it, he had seen her die, he had been to her funeral. Still his heart remembered the pain and heartache of years ago. It was a long time ago and Ranma was able to recover quickly.  
  
"I've come to issue a challenge!"  
  
*****  
  
Three people stood hunched over a computer screen watching a deceptively young man with crystal blue eyes and a black pig tail. The youngest of about fourteen was dressed in large white lacy dress with what looked to be an inflatable hammer strapped to her back. The serious expression that adorned her face and the knowledgeable twinkle in her eyes shouted louder than words that she was far from fourteen years old.  
  
Next to her stood a young lady of about 20 years of age wearing what could be considered a traditional house wife's garment. She seemed to exude a peaceful aura which combined with her serene expression could no doubt calm even the hottest fires of hell.   
  
On the other side of the youngest among the group stood the eldest of the group with an apparent age of mid to late twenties. Unlike the other two she wore less modest clothing accenting her more than generous curves giving her the air of a seductress.  
  
She was currently drooling all over the keyboard that was placed in front of the monitor.  
  
"Urd, I know you're a self proclaimed god of love but this is ridiculous. Its been centuries and your still obsessed. Get over it you old bag, besides he's far to young for you."  
  
"What do you know, your just a little kid! That is one fine specimen of man."  
  
"Yeah one that turns into a girl, and I'm not a little kid!"  
  
"Not now you two," Belldandy interrupted effectively defusing the situation. "The situation is reaching a critical stage."  
  
"Yeah," Urd mumbled as she continued to drool over the keyboard not once taking her eyes of the screen. "Mara really pulled though this time."  
  
"What are you taking about you old woman it was Bell who found him and his potential and it was Bell who kept an eye on him all those years, what did Mara do?"  
  
"Well, little kid," Urd replied responding to the old woman crack. "If she hadn't been messing round with that Habiki kid then we would never had cause to look. She almost led us straight to him and she still has no idea what she's handed us."  
  
"I'm not a little kid!" Skuld protested, her eyes twitching. "Belldandy, can we meet him. I'm sick of just watching him, even if the old lady isn't," Skuld added a little kick to Urd's shin. To he disappointment the only reaction was a little drool globed onto the screen as she blinked.   
  
"Both of you try to control yourselves," Belldandy once again intervened. "The time when we will meet him will be soon enough. In the meantime do you think you could drag yourself from that monitor to cook something up for our Grandmaster Urd?"  
  
"Urd, Urd, URD! HEY OLD WOMAN! Bells taking to you," Skuld shouted for her older sister. Belldandy would never need to shout but then Skuld doubted that she would ever need to.  
  
"Huh, what. Oh right sure sis," Urd grunted before going back to staring at the screen.  
  
"Skuld, I'll need you to build something that will push him to the limit. That mortal technology will be fine to start with but then you know as well as I how quickly Ranma adapts to things."  
  
Skuld nodded smiling, "you can count an me sis."  
  
A/N - I've decided to leak small pieces of Ranma's past slowly throughout the story. If you've read Full circle and think you already know it, think again I'm changing it. I found myself unwilling to continue it as it was and so decided a major rewrite was in order. Please tell me what you think C+C appreciated, even flames if they contain a grain if constructive criticism in them. 


	2. Returning to the fold

Full Circle 2  
  
Thanks to Joe Fenton for prereading  
  
Ch2: Untitled  
  
Akane grimaced as she brushed some more cream onto her face hoping to disguise the angry red welt that was forming. It was shameful that a Tendo could be so easily belted around. Theirs was one of the oldest surviving schools of martial arts in Japan and one of the best if not the finest in the world. It reflected badly on their school but that was not the reason that she was trying to cover the patch of sensitive skin that adorned her face. After all a bruise gained from training or honourable challenges where to be held as a trophy.  
  
No, the reason she was trying to disguise the mark was exactly because it wasn't gained from training or fighting but rather from a beating at the hands of some local toughs. Why were local toughs attacking a member of the Tendo house? Did they want to bring the wrath of such an old, powerful and traditional family down upon themselves? It was a question that she had often asked herself as she was growing up.  
  
Less and less frequently though was the question asked as it became apparent that these attacks were far from discouraged. The fact that her family refused to teach her any of the family art only led her to believe that they were endorsed at some levels.  
  
Akane winced again as her hands passed over the painful welt that had almost disappeared. She had, over the years become very skillful at hiding such blemishes. Her family rarely asked about her differing hairstyles, makeovers or fashion sense. They rarely asked anything personal about her, she doubted that her family really knew her at all.  
  
It was another question that she had often asked herself and still did to this day. Such an old and traditional family as theirs she would have thought would have held all family members dear, so why her two sisters and not her? It wasn't as if she was less capable than her sisters.  
  
One last look in the mirror though answered her own frequently asked question. The face that stared back at her just didn't look as if it belonged to an old, traditional Japanese family that was steeped in martial arts history. Her eyes were crystal blue and her face was more rounded than any Japanese face she had seen. She was the one that shamed her family not the fact that a supposed member of her school could so easily be belted around.  
  
Still, she didn't blame her family she blamed society. If she had been born just a hundred years earlier things would have been vastly different for her. Sure at that time the school was still in decline but society was a lot more accepting of foreigners and those who looked like foreigners.  
  
Japan had suffered a huge economic slump over the last century. The vast western conglomerates dumped world markets with largely subsidised products. This produced distaste for anything foreign, a feeling that quickly spiralled to disdain and hatred. Miraculously a small company called Genom developed robotic technology that acted to lift the economy from the depths it had fallen. Since then the feeling of disdain and hatred had crystallized with an overwhelming feeling of nationalism and backing behind the company that had saved Japan from economic ruin.  
  
This had made things very hard for her and people like her. Akane just sighed sadly as she thought about the stupidity of the whole thing. Genetics had been known for almost a thousand years and had been developed to great heights, yet still people blamed her for her genes.  
  
Bereft of being allowed to learn her family art she had to be satisfied with learning its histories, which proved fascinating in their own right. Neither of her two elder sisters was remotely interested in the past; they were more focused on the future. Kasumi, the eldest Tendo daughter actively promoted their school of martial arts; she was one of the reasons that the school was once again gaining in popularity. Nabiki, the middle Tendo daughter was being preened as the Tendo heir. Not because she was vastly more skilled than Kasumi in the art but because she had more time to search out the occasional new technique to add to their school.   
  
It was there in the family histories that she learned that their school had lost a lot of skill. What she saw her father and sisters do sometimes amazed her but the tales told of what their school had once been capable of amazed her even more. Some of the earliest family chronicles had obviously been either corrupted over time or deliberately tampered with, with the intention of delivering a better sales pitch to overcome the shrinking of the school that plagued their family even a few generations after its founding. Akane wasn't foolish enough to discount all the tales of skill however and it sometimes surprised her that Nabiki especially was not more interested in the old tomes as it listed quite a number of supposed techniques.  
  
Her family had once again left her to look after the dojo. Not that it required much looking after, the latest Betty model cleaned and no one except students came to this part of old Tokyo anymore particularly when there wasn't any classes scheduled, so it was a surprise when a knocking at the gates jerked her out of her train of thoughts.   
  
Akane frowned when she realised that the knocking was coming from the challenge gate. No one ever used the challenge gate, the only reason it had been included when the dojo had been rebuilt was for historical significance rather than convenience. So who was knocking on it now? And what could they want?  
  
Not even bothering to hide her limp she stumbled to the challenge gate, her family wasn't there to direct disappointed glances her way. "Couldn't even bother to use the main entrance," Akane mumbled disgruntled "I don't know what they expect me to do anyway, I'm treated little better than the family boomer." Akane looked at the Betty model, which was happily cleaning as it had been instructed to.  
  
Akane opened the gate with a pleasant expression; it wouldn't do to increase the antagonism between herself and society. A black haired, pigtailed, young man stood there. He was slightly shorter than she although he looked a little older in his early twenties. Wearing an antiquated red Chinese shirt with black slacks he stood with the air of a skilled martial artist. It was his face that fascinated her though, if she didn't know better she would say that she was related.  
  
His Crystal blue eyes and rounded face strongly resembled her own. Akane stood there staring; she hadn't seen anyone that so closely resembled her. Though she hadn't exactly travelled very far from the dojo to find others with similar features. Akane need not have worried about staring at the young man in front of her, since he to seemed to be momentarily caught in the moment. Before she could fully interpret the emotions she saw flashing upon his face though they were gone.  
  
  
  
"I've come to issue a challenge!" The young man challenged in a loud declaration that would have been heard throughout the compound had anyone have been in.  
  
*****  
  
After he had recovered from his initial surprise of seeing someone who resembled his long dead wife so strongly and she did only strongly resemble her. Her eyes were his own crystal blue instead of the chocolate brown that sparkled when he had spared with his wife so long ago. The biggest difference between the girl who stood before him and his dead wife was the fact that she was clearly no martial artist. Ranma once again wondered how far his school had fallen over the years, particularly when no students came running out at his announced challenge.  
  
In his time there was always someone to answer a challenge. "I'm sorry," the young girl said bowing low "both the Master of the school and his heir is out and there are no students present to accept your challenge. Please enter while you wait for their return." It was a polite and demure welcome, which was quite at odds with what he observed from her aura. For a non-combatant it shone brightly indicating that even if his family had lost a lot of his schools teachings over the years they still had the potential to relearn it.   
  
The way in which her aura surrounded, trying to smother the small black knots that speckled it spoke well for her spirit – so why wasn't she a martial artist. The potential he felt from her ached to be filled, any master skilled enough would have felt it. Cologne and Happosai certainly felt it from him and once he had become more experienced he began to feel it in others.  
  
May be he had left it too long to return; his school certainly seemed to have suffered from his absence. Bowing equally low since he were a ronin until he chose to reveal his identity and greeting a Tendo as a superior would no doubt raise questions. "Thankyou – perhaps you could tell me a little history of your school while I wait. I have heard rumours," Ranma left the sentence hanging while he followed her inside.  
  
"Of course, but first let me introduce myself. My name is Akane Tendo," she bowed again before leading him into the main room. Everything was exactly as it was when he had left it. Almost the same as when he had left it, the feel of the dojo and its surrounds were different. No longer could he feel the weight of generations, which had practiced and trained here before him. It was he supposed expected that the dojo would not have escaped the damage he saw from the wreckage of old Tokyo. Still he felt the loss keenly.  
  
Ranma raised his eyebrows in surprise and a little scepticism, as what he could only guess was a robot served the tea. Except for an almost undetectable amount of Ki he could feel coming from the being it seemed lifeless, mechanical. How could a robot brew a good cup of tea? Mentally he shrugged, he was the guest here and this young girl was the host.  
  
"As you have no doubt heard, the Tendo School of anything goes is one of the oldest schools of martial arts surviving today." Ranma sipped his tea and encouraged her to continue.  
  
"I have some doubts as to how the school was founded but the records are clear. Nerima at that time was being terrorized by a demon of terrible power who for some explicable reason was only terrorizing the women." Akane looked up to make sure he was paying attention, once again he urged her to continue.  
  
A travelling martial artist of the name of Ranma Saotome came to Nerima in the hopes of defeating the demon and saving the women of Nerima. Though a series of long and hard fought battles Ranma Saotome created a style, which was strong enough and adaptable enough to defeat the evil and trickery of the demon. After the banishment of the demon he married into the pre-existing Tendo dojo and founded what became known as the Tendo School of anything goes.  
  
"The name of the demon has been scratched out of all of our records in the belief that naming him will once again summon him from where ever he was banished. This strength and adaptability has helped our school survive where others have perished."  
  
Ranma nodded in thought, he had expected worse from the drift of time but the history of his school wasn't as important as what it had become. "What became of the first Grandmaster?" he asked giving the appearance of being engrossed in the story.  
  
"After a lifetime of promoting the school and not once losing any of his challenge matches he supposedly left to perfect the art which he had developed. Ranma the immortal he became known as but I assume he died because he never returned. No mater how science has evolved, immortality is still not possible so it is unlikely that he is still living. After he left, the popularity of anything goes decreased until mostly the family along with a few dedicated students maintained it. Still it once again seems to be gaining popularity, particularly if it is once again attracting challenges."  
  
'So' Ranma thought 'I'm dead, well that certainly makes things easier to find out what's going on.' He didn't mind that time had left him and his achievements doubted and forgotten, it was what the passage of time did and he had seen a lot of that passage. "It seems I have found the perfect school to test my strength against," he announced brashly, falling into the persona of a young overconfident martial artist he had been in his youth "so when is this master and his heir arriving so I can challenge them."  
  
"Now!" a deep voice coming from behind him announced.  
  
*****  
  
"What's with those changes you made squirt?" asked an underdressed goddess as she took time away from drooling over a live video feed of her current favourite obsession. "Not that I mind, I'm all for reliving the past."  
  
"Trying to get your youth back old woman," sniped the young girl. "Ranma's been living in monasteries for how long? Wouldn't it be best to have something familiar around him to help him reintegrate into society? It will only make things easier when the time comes."  
  
"He'll be fine kid I've been watching him after all, what could go wrong. Just leave things to your elders."  
  
"I'm not a little kid, but you sure got the elders right ya old bag."  
  
"Enough you two, the timing is too critical for the two of you to be getting into one of your arguments." Belldandy interjected once again forestalling a fight. "Now Skuld, how are you progressing?"  
  
"I'm almost ready, my Benpai Dojo Destroyer Mark I is finished, but I still need to finish programming it. I'm sure it will put him through his paces, more so than whatever the old bags cooking up."  
  
"I'll have you know that my creations are so tough that I'm going to let him wade through your junk first."  
  
"What did you say?" growled out Skuld as she produced some of her newly created Urd blaster grenades.  
  
"Now you two, I said you could play later. Lets see how this progressing." Once again the god of the present stopped any conflict between that of past or future. If Ranma suspected that the eyes of past, present and future were focused on him at that moment he would have been running as fast as he could, though where he could have run to escape those eyes is questionable.  
  
*****  
  
Ranma noted the Akane visibly flinched at the sound of the deep voice behind him and added another question to his list. He would find answers eventually but one thing at a time. Putting his cup down he turned to face where the voice had come from but before he could introduce himself to the older man and the two young women that flanked him he was interrupted.  
  
"What is going on Akane and who is this man enjoying the hospitality of the Tendo ancestral home?" demanded the older man.  
  
With head bent toward the floor Akane started to explain about the challenge.  
  
*****  
  
Akane had been enjoying her conversation with Ranma, sure she was doing all the talking but he had been treating her as an equal, something that to her knowledge had not been done before. She had begun to loosen up a little, not holding herself to the strictly reserved persona that she forced herself into when in public. It was also fascinating to watch, as emotions of some kind seemed to flicker across Ranma's face while she told her story. What emotions they were she could not tell since they flashed briefly before being replaced with another or disappearing.  
  
When she heard her fathers demanding voice she felt her self flinch. Quickly standing and restoring her subservant façade she answered him. "This gentlemen has brought a challenge to our school, I thought it best to await your return before I answered."  
  
Soun grunted, "This foreign ronin thinks he can provide a challenge to our school does he?" The distain was obvious to everyone and Akane could see Ranma's face briefly tighten before he grinned. "Of course old man, this foreigner feels confident of proving the superiority of the anything goes school is nothing more than a myth."  
  
Akane watched as Nabiki's face reddened, Kasumi just watched the exchange coolly. "Stupid foreigner, you should know your place."  
  
"Nabiki," Ranma seemed to be deliberately antagonising her family, to what purpose she couldn't see. He had already issued a challenge and stirring up Nabiki especially would just make her more vicious. "I'm as Japanese as you are, but then I can see that I have a larger head and it is well known that head size is related to intelligence."  
  
"Are you calling me stupid foreigner," Nabiki snarled out. Kasumi still looked on and Soun seemed reluctant to intervene. Ranma just assumed what she guessed was his worst innocent face and cocked an eyebrow. Nabiki reddened further and lunged at him in anger.  
  
"This is hardly the place to be accepting a challenge," Ranma said while neatly side stepping Nabiki's lunge.  
  
"He is right Nabiki," Soun growled out finally stepping in, clearly angry with Ranma's insults to the school and his family. "Take him to the dojo and give him a thrashing for daring to question the superiority of our school.  
  
"Father, surely we should exchange introductions and terms first?" Kasumi added exchanging an appraising look with Ramna.  
  
"Of corse you are correct as usual Kasumi," Soun sighed, calming down. "I am Soun, Grandmaster of anything goes and Head of the Tendo clan. These are my three daughters Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane you've already met. I doubt you'll be around long enough to meet my students." Akane watched Ranma's face tighten again briefly during the introduction but she wasn't sure what caused it.  
  
"Ranma," he returned not even bothering to bow "and if I win I would like to stay and teach at this dojo."  
  
"How do you propose to do that foreigner," Nabiki interrupted him angrily "this is an anything goes dojo and I doubt you know any of our family school."  
  
"The challenge will be in anything goes and if you win you'll be able to teach for two weeks with board included." Kasumi announced overriding Nabiki's objections. Ranma bowed in Kasumi's direction "agreed." Like Kasumi he to seemed to be ignoring Nabiki's protests, which seemed to increase Nabiki's anger.  
  
"Lets get on with it then!" Nabiki yelled storming to the dojo. Ranma just looked amused as he followed Soun, Kasumi and her to the dojo, trailing Nabiki.  
  
****  
  
Ranma looked at all three daughters and wondered what the chances were that they would all be named after his own generation of Tendo's. Still aside from the names they seemed nothing alike to the girls he knew. Kasumi looked on from the corner of the dojo which a cool intelligence without the nastiness of his own Nabiki. If he wanted to get anything done it would seem he needed to go through her. Nabiki stood opposite him with an angry impatience that indicated a lack of discipline but with enough skill not to be discounted and Akane just looked on with a worried expression. He doubted she participated in any family affairs.  
  
Soun stood beside them ready to start the match 'Grandmaster indeed' Ranma thought. 'None of them have the training I would've thought necessary for them to claim that tittle. By the look of their auras, I doubt if they can even achieve the basics of aerial combat. I have a lot of work a head of me'  
  
Ranma nodded at Soun and considered the best way to defeat Nabiki without humiliating her too much.  
  
"Begin"  
  
A/N – the Japanese face is shrinking and becoming more like an inverted triangle so in 100 years time… http://www.jinjapan.org/trends00/honbun/tj990918.html  
  
-Interesting articles on the correlation between head size and intelligence http://pubpages.unh.edu/~jel/brainIQ.html.  
  
- There is a trend for world populations getting taller, put it down to better diets or hormones in the food chain. 


	3. The devil Ranko

Full circle 2  
  
Thanks again for Betaing this Joe - though I hope it isnt destracting you from your own excellent fics  
  
Ch3: The devil Ranko  
  
Akane stared at the stranger facing off with her sister with worry. The pigtailed youth looked skilled but she knew from experience just how skilled Nabiki was and she was almost certain he would end up getting hurt. Facing an enraged Nabiki wasn't a fate she would wish on anybody; an enraged Nabiki was also a vicious one.  
  
It required a much higher level of skill to defeat a berserk martial artist and she had heard of nobody that had that much of a jump on Nabiki.  
  
With a worried frown she saw Ranma nod solemnly at Soun. Was it right to be so worried about the stranger when he had seemingly baited her sister into her current frenzy. A stranger that had treated her with kindness and equality. Or should she be rooting for her family, a family she hardly knew and had received few acts of kindness from.  
  
It wasn't as bad as she made out – being a member of the Tendo family. There were some benefits and she was better off than those who had lost everything in the big earthquake ten years previously. It was kind of sad that boomer technology had not benefited everybody in the way it had benefited the rich. The earthquake had created a whole subclass of people living in the remains of old Tokyo, that subclass blew away the myth of an equal and prosperous Japan and were often seen as a problem to be disposed of.  
  
Akane shook her head and refocused on the match, she had missed the start of the challenge match because of her absentmindedness. It wasn't looking good for Ranma in her limited experience of martial arts. It seemed that Nabiki was dictating the pace of the fight; Ranma was all over the place trying to avoid Nabiki's seemingly vicious blows. Despite this, she had to admire his skill, from the tournament fights she had seen, the fight was usually long finished by this stage.  
  
He seemed to slide around Nabiki, blocking or dodging the fast paced attacks that were coming from Nabiki. Curiously, the hits that Nabiki slipped past his guard didn't seem to be fazing the young man at all. Wherever he had learnt anything goes it was very different from what they taught at their dojo, the longer she watched the fight, the more she couldn't help thinking that it was also a superior variation to the art they taught at their dojo.  
  
*****  
  
Kasumi glanced at her watch taking her attention away from the fight in front of her momentarily. Half an hour, it surprised her that the fight had been going so long though she didn't let the surprise show. Her sister was good but from the very first blows struck she knew who was going to win this fight. Why the ronin was dragging it on she didn't know it was as if he were plumbing the extent of her sister's skill.   
  
'Yes, that makes sense,' she thought remembering the terms of the challenge. 'If I were teaching at another dojo, I too would want to know the skills of the other teachers. The question remains though, why he wants to teach here. As skilled as he is he could open his own school and steal half of our students.'  
  
It was a question that plagued her, why would such a skilled martial artist want to teach at their dojo. Kasumi considered herself a little bit of a cynic and in a world where lesser martial arts schools had vanished into history her views had paid off. She couldn't see though why this obviously extremely skilled martial artist would want to teach at her families' dojo of all places.  
  
No, when this fight was over she would have to confront him, privately. There was also the matter of where he had learnt her family school. Although what he was using seemed very different to the school Nabiki was using there were some basic similarities. Enough for him to be able to say that he was indeed using anything goes. The questions would have to wait until she could catch him alone though, his answers would no doubt anger her father and younger sister. Not that she cared too much, the school and its continuation was what was important.  
  
Nabiki was getting tired and Kasumi was amazed that she had lasted so long. She was too easily baited, increasing her power enormously at the expense of technique, 'not that it would have made any difference' she almost snorted. Looking around she could see that Akane was engrossed in the fight, ' she would be, it's a rare treat for her' she thought dismissively, Soun just looked as if he believed that Nabiki still stood a chance.   
  
Kasumi sighed - her father was getting old. She had heard that anything goes had the potential to extend life and health once a certain level had been reached. If there was any truth in those tales her father had never reached that level. Those fairy tales that passed themselves as history were fine for her youngest sister but she preferred to look to the future and what she saw in front of her oozed it. This skilled martial artist was just the revitalization their school needed to stay competitive.  
  
A quick palm strike ended the match. Ranma it seemed had finally had enough, again to her eyes demonstrating his superiority by sliding through Nabiki's guard and knocking her into a wall.  
  
"Match" the disbelief in her fathers voice was evident though not surprising, his faith in Nabiki seemed to supersede commonsense on occasion.   
  
"Akane will prepare your room, classes start tomorrow." Announced Kasumi before leaving the dojo, early tomorrow would be a perfect time to confront him. Akane just nodded before hastily following Kasumi.  
  
*****  
  
After propping Nabiki more comfortably against a wall Ranma looked around at the dojo. The Tendo's really had done a marvelous job rebuilding it, it was a pleasure to once again fight in a real dojo. A feeling he hadn't realized he had been missing until now and it had been a challenging fight. He had not realized how much he would have to limit himself during the fight. Sure he had expected a great disparity between their skill levels but not quite as much as it been. Had he really improved so much or had his school decayed to the point where he could hardly classify them as martial artists at all.  
  
Ranma walked past a gaping Soun as he exited the dojo. So much had been forgotten; even raging mad Nabiki couldn't generate a battle aura. Where once their school had specialized in mid air combat and adaptability it seemed that now it was as form driven as kendo with no particular specialty. Fighting Nabiki was almost as bad as fighting Kuno had been.  
  
Kasumi was difficult to read, but during the fight he had paid particular attention to her reactions. She would be vital in any attempt to rebuild his school but he knew better than to only rely on his family. Happosai's multiple heirs came to mind making Ranma grin. So, the old man wasn't just after a harem of pretty bosoms after all. "I knew the dojo's position was a bad omen," he muttered as he jumped over the compounds walls. The positioning of the Dojo among such decay was one of the worse omens that had been borne out which he had seen in his lifetime. He would need to start rebuilding his school tonight while his progeny considered the thrashing their school took.  
  
A pair of eyes widened at the sight of the level of skill displayed so effortlessly during his leap over the compounds walls, "perhaps the old histories aren't all fairytales, certainly something worth taking a closer look at."  
  
*****  
  
Rei was worried, since the local police force had started cleaning up the streets it had become harder for her and the other homeless to live. The streets had been racked by patrols of police whom more often than not detained the people they found. She like all the other people who lived in the old city were seen as little better than vermin. Who better to clean up the cities' vermin than a police force which was snugly in the politicians' pockets?   
  
Rarely were the people detained by the armed police patrols seen again. This led to a giant game of cat and mouse between the AD police and those that tried eeking out a living on the streets. Life on the streets was already hard and it just got harder with the latest crack down on the cities' underclass. No longer was it just a matter of finding your next meal, a place to sleep and knowing whom to pay off and whom to avoid but you had to almost develop a sixth sense about when a patrol was going to sweep by. 'You'd think that with less people living on the streets it would be easier for the rest of us' she thought as she looked around at the people huddled over the fire. Having to be constantly on guard and ready to move at a moments notice had frayed her nerves to almost breaking. Rei hadn't had anything to eat for two days now and she knew that for some of the others she saw crowding around the fire it had been longer. Some of the people here tonight seemed to already be broken. The cities' police had a lot to answer for Rei thought angrily.  
  
Scrambling over to the fire she attempted to warm herself, it hadn't always been like this. She clearly remembered having a home and a family. When the earthquake demolished her home it also destroyed her life. Her mother died saving her from the remains of their rapidly crumbling home and when her father couldn't get a job they had settled into life on the streets. Her father never gave up trying to get a job, but the number of rejections eroded his spirit. He died a lingering death, a death she had seen often on the faces of those around her.   
  
Growing up on the street though gave her an edge when it came to surviving and it was often the difference between surviving another day and laying dead in the gutter. Despite living almost half her life in the slums of old Tokyo she never gave up looking for opportunities for getting back into mainstream society, leaving the life of poverty and despair. She had started her own horde and she knew that one-day, if that same lingering death that came with the sapping of the spirit didn't find her she would be free of this place.  
  
Rei looked around at the faces illuminated by the flickering glow of the fire. In these deadly days of cat and mouse it was rare that she saw anyone. Everyone was too busy hiding from AD police patrols; still it would blow over like it had in the past. More pressing events would move the attentions of the politicians away from their home, leaving them to live as they had for the last ten years.  
  
They had found a good place to gather. The noise of any patrol would be heard long before it arrived, echoing along the corridors of concrete and steel. There were just enough avenues of escape to prevent an ambush while providing easy retreat. She would have to remember this place for later if things got any hotter.   
  
Almost as if thoughts of the approach of AD patrols summoned them, Rei heard the sound of someone approaching. Tensing at the sound she quickly relaxed when the sound resolved itself enough to identify the approach of one person on foot. Another slummer then, it was turning into quite the gathering. Rei wondered if it had been planned like that or whether it was just a coincidence. She shook her head; the police would… No could never be that subtle.  
  
Rei blinked in surprise as she saw who approached, it was a woman slightly older than her wearing Chinese style silk and wearing her brilliant red hair in a pigtail. No AD policeman or woman would be stupid enough to enter the slums surrounding new Tokyo alone with no backup these days would they? Clearly she wasn't one of the homeless though, she looked too well fed for that and similar events in the past had scared of the other inhabitants of new Tokyo, so who was she?  
  
Some of the men around her had grabbed some metal bars and clubs of wood not taking any chances about her allegiances. Rei tensed again wondering what she should do, she couldn't help the woman against so many people but equally she didn't want to flee. Something about the way the woman moved seemed to tickle her sixth sense, telling her that she was in no danger, rather it was the men that were threatening her that were in danger.  
  
"Your in the wrong part of town lady," grumbled out one of the larger men. Rei had seen this before when the police decided to crack down five years ago. Some of the men had lost friends and decided that they needed some payback. She shuddered as she remembered some of the things that had happened, it had been a real loss of innocence for her. Not even the police deserved some of the things she had seen.   
  
The police force had found some other things to occupy themselves after that and no one ever came visited the slums. They had developed a reputation of being a hard nut to crack and the politicians had found easier nuts. Since noone from the community ever visited they had developed they own underclass. Recently though the AD police had decided it was time for another clean up.  
  
"I don't think so," the young woman whispered softly in response to the threat, she just continued her approach ignoring the men. As she got closer she looked straight at Rei. "Girl, let's talk.  
  
You others get lost," Rei had to mentally shake herself to break eye contact. Was this what she had been waiting for the opportunity to escape to a better life? Her sixth sense continued to tingle but she was reluctant to commit to anything, the streets had taught her the folly of false hopes. Before she could respond though the men who had armed themselves at her approach attacked, they had apparently been offended by her tone.  
  
"No," she heard herself yell, if this was her chance… Rei just blinked. The red haired woman stood in the middle of the street holding up the leader of the thugs by his hair, a seemingly impossible task being that he was almost double her size. The arm that had been holding a weapon was bent at an odd angle and his face was twisted in pain. "I will not ask again," the woman said, throwing the leaders pain wracked body at the rest of the men and continuing her approach. The men took the hint and scattered.  
  
Rei just stared at the woman in front of her suddenly finding herself standing alone with the devil woman, "I didn't even see you move, how?" she stuttered.  
  
"I will teach you if you want, for now I have an offer to make. Will you listen to what I have to say?" Rei just nodded dumbly a little overwhelmed by the whole situation and so was totally unprepared when the she-devil picked her up and started flying. Before she could scream or even voice her surprise and outrage at being manhandled though everything went dark as she lost consciousness.  
  
*****  
  
Nabiki sat slumped in her seat tired, aching and humiliated. The fact that she had lost didn't bother her so much as who she had lost to. She had been beaten before at the tournaments she attended to promote her school, though not by such a large margin. The people who beat her always had years more experience in the art and always came from highly recognized schools. 'Ranma' she thought with disgust had walked in off the street, no older than her and from no apparent school and thrashed her. Not only that but he had even beaten her with her own style, 'no, not her own style but a variation of it.'  
  
"She lost," mumbled Soun. Her father seemed as astonished as she was. Kasumi was as cool as always and was probably thinking how she could use this to promote the school further.  
  
"She didn't just lose father, she was thrashed and in our own style." Nabiki cast a sour look in Kasumi's direction but couldn't bring herself to reply. It wasn't worth the effort and she couldn't remember the last time she had ever hurt so much in her life.  
  
"Yes and I want to know where he learnt it. As the oldest member of our style, I represent the highest authority in our school and to find out that there might be an alternate branch out there is intolerable." Her father seemed to be taking her loss well, considering that he had trained and pushed her all her life to be the best of her generation and to expand their faltering school. At least she could hope, it wasn't likely that he would forget about the loss and retribution would come in one form or another.  
  
"We can always ask him," she again cast a sour look in her sister's direction "he will be teaching in this dojo for the next two weeks. I say the sooner we get rid of the foreign ronin the better."  
  
"You're as short sighted as always Nabiki," Kasumi said barely glancing at her younger sister instead focusing on her father. "This is the best opportunity we've yet had to expand our school. Once news gets out that we have such a skilled master teaching here students will flock to our school. We have two weeks to find out were he learned anything goes, let's try not to alienate him. He could be an incredible asset but imagine if he set up a dojo in opposition to our own."  
  
"Nabiki," Soun grunted, "by the end of the two weeks I want you to know everything there is too know about this new variation of our school. I doubt you'd be able to beat him, but if we do decide we would be better off without him lets limit any possible damage of expelling him." Nabiki almost groaned at the thought of future challenges, no doubt about it she was going to be sore for the next couple of weeks.  
  
'Which is fine,' she thought to herself 'but I can't even figure out why I lost and until I can anything I can do counter this new variation will be wasted. ' She couldn't help but think that she and her family was still vastly underestimating what he was capable of, it didn't help that no one had thought to ask where he had vanished to after the match.  
  
*****  
  
Ranma roof hopped away from the sound of airships mingled with a contingent of ground vehicles. He had cut that a little too fine for his liking, as it was he had to effectively kidnap the girl. Still, he had taken such a possibility into account and was prepared for the event.   
  
He looked down at the girl in his arms; it had astounded him to find such an ordered aura in a non-martial artist, it was comparable to Nabiki's and she had spent a lifetime practicing the arts, a fact that once again highlighted the degradation of his school. Ranma hadn't caught her name if indeed she had given it he had been to busy concentrating on the rapidly approaching patrol of what looked to be the local law enforcement.  
  
Then there had been those bullyboys, which had tried to intimidate him. Ranma snorted, "tried." He had always disliked bullies and thugs and tried to avoid them where he could since confrontations usually ended like the one had today. The rumors that he had no doubt started would cause him trouble, it was a good thing he had come in female form. If he were careful about not fuelling the usual mass of rumors then they would quickly die down. He could almost see the devil hunters and men of god that would come.  
  
That wasn't the only reason he had visited the slums female, he could sense the female chi in the girls aura. Nabiki had taught him the basics of negotiations and running a dojo had taught him the rest. Hard experience had shown him that in some cases negotiations went smother if he were one gender rather than the other, this he felt was one such case. His show of force with the thugs had also helped though he would have to be careful that the girl not develop some sort of hero worship for Ranko. It would prove troublesome when she found out about his curse and if he wanted her to be his student he would have to handle that subject with care.   
  
Leaving the slums behind Ranma entered an apartment he had bought. In his life he had discovered that things never went smoothly and thus it was always a good idea to be prepared. Besides a well-stocked apartment would no doubt provide a more comfortable environment for what he had in mind to discuss with his potential student. 


	4. Boomer Benpai

Full Circle II  
  
Well, WSRaptor has breezed through this. Thanks  
  
Ch4: Boomer Benpai  
  
Rei stretched luxuriously on the soft bed, enjoying the feel of the cool crisp sheets against her clean skin. The subtle smell of perfume coming from her hair filled her senses as she slowly regained consciousness. When a cool breeze from an open window somehow found its way between her and her sheets highlighting the fact that she wore no clothes, she found herself waking up real fast.  
  
From the time that her family had found themselves on the street, they had ingrained into her the importance of never going anywhere remotely undressed. After her parents had died, she had witnessed things on the street that not only validated the warnings she had been given but had also ensured that she took more care herself never to appear even remotely undressed.  
  
To find herself completely naked was disconcerting. However, it didn't take her long to verify and assure herself that nothing untoward had happened even after being stripped naked and thoroughly bathed. If the worst that had happened to her after being kidnapped was a bath and a good nights sleep in such a rich setting she considered herself lucky.   
  
Rei sat up and studied her surroundings. She didn't think that she had ever seen such lavishness. Not only were the bed and the sheets she slept in extravagant in their design and quality, but also the apartment seemed to match its opulence. She could not even remember having such things from when she had a home. Sure it had been six years, but she had been old enough to remember such details.  
  
Beside the bed was a silken outfit that matched what she remembered Ranko wearing the previous night. It confirmed her suspicions that the red head was responsible not only for her kidnapping, but her bath as well. Getting dressed in the clean set of clothes provided, Rei set out to explore the apartment she had found herself in. It depressed her a little as she went from room to room viewing the opulence each contained. If this was what was considered mainstream, then how could she ever hope to get here on her own? Her stockpile, which had seemed huge moments ago, had suddenly shrunk in size significantly.   
  
Following her growling stomach and twitching nose, Rei found breakfast already laid out on the table. She was amazed at the shear quantity of food. In all her ten years on the street, she had not seen so much food in one place. Having already determined that she was alone in the apartment, Rei correctly deduced that Ranko had left the large amount of food for her. So, with mouth watering, she immediately started to sate her hunger.  
  
It wasn't until after she had finished that she found the note. Picking it up guiltily from beside the mess she had made in her hurry to eat as much as possible, she began to read.  
  
Rei,  
  
By now I'm sure you have enjoyed breakfast and I apologize for not being there to join you. If you still wish to hear my offer  
  
meet Ranma at the Tendo Dojo.  
  
Ranko  
  
Rei studied the map below and grimaced. It just confirmed her suspicions that she was indeed in the middle of New Tokyo. It was a place where she and the other people who had not managed to successfully migrate to the new city were not welcome. So how, even with a map, was she to get to the Dojo in one piece? Mobs had been started for less reason than a member of her subclass being caught in the middle of new Tokyo, often on some trumped up charge of theft.  
  
Besides, apart from telling her where she was Rei felt that the map was unnecessary. After all, everyone in what was left of the old city would have recognized the Tendo Dojo even if it were off limits to her kind. The Tendo's were considered strange that they had stayed in the old city, but they had earned the respect of both sides of the social divide despite that. To the second-class citizens, the dojo was a symbol of what they strived for. The upper class just saw it as what was lost six years ago and what was improved upon as a result. Nevertheless, she and all the others from the old city never forgot that the Tendo's were still one of the upper class and to be feared for the power they held as a result.  
  
Rei took another look at the wealth that surrounded her and again at the map. So far, she had been treated well. It gave her hope that Ranko was a genuine chance at escaping the drudgery of what had essentially become slums. It had been her dream for ten years, but her life on the streets had taught her some hard lessons in trust.   
  
Nodding her head and gripping the map tighter, Rei made her decision. If she let this opportunity slip by, then society had won in grinding her into accepting her second-class status. She would chance it and accept any consequences.  
  
****   
  
  
  
Kasumi snuck up the stairs to the guest room, which had been made up for Ranma. She hadn't heard him come in last night. However, she suspected that had more to do with him trying not to disturb her family too much after he disappeared than him not coming in. She wanted answers and she would get them before his morning lesson, appropriately supervised by herself and her father. Nabiki had decided to join in the hope that she would learn a new technique or two from the newest master in their dojo.  
  
She fully understood the consequences of having a rival wing of anything goes competing in modern Japan. Too many martial arts had died out in the past for her not to. Even worse was the fact that neither she nor her family had any idea when or how their family art had split or been stolen. No, her family school was in her mind superior and would triumph over any inevitable struggles between the two factions. If or when she decided to kick Ranma out of the dojo, she was determined to not only do this but also limit any fallout that might occur.  
  
Kasumi silently reached for the door. She had thoroughly oiled it the night before to ensure that it would open smoothly and silently. If she unsettled him a little by surprising him, then he might just reveal a little more than he intended. It was in his best interests to stay silent at this time, but she would have her answers for the sake of her family's school. Kasumi grinned imagining his surprise as she slowly slid the door open. She blinked in surprise at seeing the young man not sleeping at all, but in a lotus position meditating. That was a practice, which had long been, neglected in her own wing of anything goes. She would have to mention it to Nabiki. Still, it didn't matter too much. If she were silent enough, she could still startle him.  
  
Reaching out to shake his shoulder, she couldn't help but recoil in shock when he reached out and grabbed her forearm without so much as opening his eyes. She was sure she hadn't made any noise. So how was it that the element of surprise had so quickly been reversed? It was as if he had sensed her and knew exactly where she was standing in what posture.  
  
"Kasumi," he started with a smirk "I had expected Nabiki after I beat her so thoroughly yesterday or maybe even Akane to stare at my obvious manliness." His voice was loud and arrogant seemingly revealing a smug sense of superiority. "What can I do for you this morning? Class doesn't start for another half hour yet and I doubt you want to spar." Kasumi felt his arrogant smirk and superior tone grating. She just wanted to wipe the floor with him, but she knew that the opposite would most likely occur. She began to feel unsettled herself by his reaction. During the fight, he had seemed a lot more composed. He had shown arrogance, but today it seemed magnified and almost forced, as if he were trying to goad her. Kasumi took a deep breath. She had come to goad him into giving her answers. She would not be goaded in his stead.   
  
He released her arm and opened his eyes as she sat down opposite him trying to calm down. Already the conversation was not going at all like what she had planned. She had planned to perturb him, not become unbalanced herself. "Tell me where you learned our family style?" she demanded determined to get an answer.  
  
"From the grandmaster of anything goes of course," he smiled as if his explanation satisfactorily answered her question while his eyes twinkled in amusement. Certainly he showed no sign of the answer being remotely unreasonable and to her that came off as a little condescending.  
  
"Impossible!" Kasumi replied derisively. "There hasn't been a Ranma taught in this dojo for over 200 years." Kasumi sat back once again feeling in control of where the conversation was heading. In the face of such evidence Ranma or whatever his name was would have no choice but to reveal where he had learned her family's style. "Even then, he had been a family member and you are clearly no Tendo."  
  
"Kasumi..." she almost grinned in triumph when she watched his smirking face change to one of saddened indifference. It was clear she had struck a nerve. Still, she needed to back off a little. She couldn't afford to upset such a skilled master until she decided that he wouldn't be an asset to her school no matter how satisfying it was to drag him down a few pegs. "The morning class is about to start so if you haven't got anymore questions…" she watched as he started to get up.  
  
Her frustration and irritation started to grow again at not only his avoidance of the issue of where he had learned her family style, but his continued smug arrogance. Anything goes was one of the things that marked her family unique even in today's society. "Tell me where you learned my family's style. Who gave you the right to change our school so much and how the hell did you jump our back wall?!" Kasumi covered her mouth in shock. She hadn't meant to mention that until she had read deeper into her family's history or until Nabiki had managed to defeat him and learn his style. Being derived from her own family's school, Kasumi couldn't see any reason why Nabiki couldn't learn a lot of it in the two weeks that he was staying.  
  
"I practice anything goes as I was taught it by a previous Grandmaster," he said finally as he left the guest room and slid the door shut. Kasumi just sat there wondering how she had been so cleverly out maneuvered and unsettled in something as fundamental to her as her own school of martial arts. Also, she was curious as to what he had meant by his own closing statement.   
  
*****  
  
Ranma bowed to Soun as he slid into the dojo. No matter what he thought of the man, Soun deserved respect in his own dojo. His students had already formed up into lines with Nabiki and what he assumed where the other more advanced students. They were currently running them through basic kata's and other warm up exercises.  
  
As he watched the students Ranma had to consider the course of action he was taking in riling Kasumi so much. He would have to work with her in order to restore his school to what it once was. However, he had committed himself to behaving like his younger persona until he felt it was time to reveal himself as the rightful grandmaster. It was good to know that his arrogant younger self could still rile the best of them and he could tell that Kasumi was not used to being so easily provoked.  
  
Focusing on the students, Ranma couldn't help but be impressed. From what Akane had told him, he had been expecting significantly fewer students. Also, from the look of the students, they had all had a thorough grounding in the basics of anything goes. They seemed ready for more advanced training. Still, it wasn't as easy at it sounded. His experience in teaching ten year olds wasn't going to help in teaching the group of middle-aged men and women before him. Of course, he had a wealth of experience to draw from which would help a great deal.  
  
What he needed was someway to group them into both skill levels and the speed with which they learned the art. What he needed was…   
  
Ranma was jarred from his thoughts by the ceiling as it was smashed inwards shooting debris across the dojo. How the skills of his school were so poor when they were still plagued by the weirdness that followed his style around he would never know. His assumption that the giant robot was after the Tendo family earned him a large metallic fist to the face which propelled him through the wooden walls of the dojo, the stone walls of the outer compound and had him lying dazedly wondering how long it had been since he had been hit quite so hard.   
  
*****  
  
Belldandy sat alone watching the scene below unfold in front of her on the computer screen. Moments earlier her younger sister's robot had waded in and started to destroy the dojo. Tears silently tracked their way down her face and splashed loudly into the cold cup of tea she held in her hands. She could see Ranma paying particular attention to the reaction of the students as they milled around.  
  
From her time with him she had experienced his love for the art and knew its importance to the martial artist. She knew how he worked to perfect and preserve it. Even now, he sought to spread his art, but she also knew that his dreams would not be fulfilled in quite the way he imagined.  
  
Her tears quickened as she saw him flung though the dojo's walls causing even more property damage and potential injury to the young martial artist. 'Will he ever forgive me' she wondered. 'He knew me once or at least he thought he did. When we meet again and I explain my role in his life, will he think of me as kindly as he did then?'  
  
'It had started so simply' she thought. Belldandy's eyes were now so blurred she couldn't see the monitor in front of her. 'But then father revealed something that complicated matters.' She shook her head to clear her eyes and stared dejectedly at her tea. 'It was a burden I myself had to carry. Such news would only panic my older sister and frighten my younger.'  
  
Belldandy considered the implications of what He had told her. "Something outside the ultimate force will come as a result of an action taken from within. Find someone with the potential to overcome our limitations." She knew exactly what he had implied and it had overwhelmed her even more than the fact that it had been Mara that had unintentionally led them to just that person. She had always known that mortals were slightly less bound to the ultimate force than the gods, but for a mortal to overcome such bindings made her shiver.  
  
As far as Urd and Skuld were aware, they had been nurturing him for a different purpose. After all, not all war gods were born gods. They were wrong though, so very wrong but she couldn't blame them for their ignorance and they would find out soon enough. She just hoped that they would forgive her for her deception. She doubted Ranma would.  
  
It had begun finally and nothing could stop it. "No" she thought. "It started a long time ago and even father didn't have the ability to stop it."  
  
*****  
  
"See, I told you that Benpai wasn't a piece of junk. Gooo Benpai!" Skuld cheered as the giant robot started destroying the Tendo dojo after having back fisted Ranma out of the compound.  
  
"I haven't begun to see it fight yet Skuld. That was a lucky shot it got on Ranma. I just hope that it manages to give him a decent workout. He hasn't had one of those for years." Even so Urd couldn't seem to drag her eyes from the developing conflict.  
  
"Unlike you old lady, I know what I'm doing. Look!" Skuld pulled out a device with a single red button on it. "Super Ranma Attack!" she cried pressing the button.  
  
Both goddesses just watched as the robot tossed its head back and screamed while pieces of armour sprouted from its already formidable looking structure. "I'm still waiting to be impressed squirt," Urd tossed negligibly to her younger sister and was a little concerned when she didn't reply to the bait.  
  
"Oh no! No, No, No...." moaned Skuld in a mantra.  
  
Urd looked worriedly at her younger sister. Everything seemed to be going smoothly to her, so what was the problem? She then noticed the family boomer that had wondered into the dojo. "You didn't! Please tell me you didn't!" Urd begged.  
  
"You were teasing me, so I added a few upgrades to prove that my Benpai could be as good as anything you could make," Skuld whined. "Besides Ranma can still win right?" she needled.  
  
"Ranma Saotome never loses kid," Urd said worriedly. "But, if you've managed to destroy all Belldandy's work, I'd be more worried about what she has to say."  
  
Skuld just sat there trying not to cry as she watched the family Boomers eyes start to glow bright red. She had a vain hope that someone could destroy the Boomer before it could merge with her own Benpai. If that happened... What her older sister thought of her would be nothing to what their father would do.  
  
Still, she had watched Ranma pull victories out of seemingly impossible odds before. She could only hope that he could again. Skuld glanced at Urd before focusing back on the mess she had created. Everything would turn out she thought feeling a little better. They had the ultimate force on their side.  
  
*****  
  
Approaching the Tendo dojo, Rei couldn't help but think about her walk through the recently rebuilt Tokyo. She was amazed at the shining spires of glass and metals, the glistening roads and the clean sidewalks. It really was nothing like she remembered. That just made her even more determined though to get back in.  
  
She and the others who lived in the ruins of the old city were being left behind. It wouldn't be long before they were forgotten completely, an extended death sentence. It wouldn't be that hard either. Walking here no one raised a hue and cry. She was just like everybody else walking the streets and was treated as such, except she knew she wasn't. She was still one of the second class just washed and in clean clothes, disguised. She didn't belong here yet; she didn't feel as if she had earned it.  
  
Which was probably why Ranko had deposited her in the apartment and instructed her to walk through the city, to show what she was offering in exchange for what she wanted. Rei would do almost anything, but there were some lines she wouldn't cross and she still didn't know what the red head wanted with her.  
  
Rei quickly scurried behind some nearby rubble when she heard a loud rumble. It almost sounded like the dojo in front of her was being demolished, but who would dare? The people she had lived with for the last six years wouldn't dare risking reprisals and surely the upper class wouldn't hurt their own.  
  
She almost screamed when something came barreling at her through the compound wall. The dust from the demolished stone, however, obscured her vision of what it was. There was a large thump on the other side of the wall of rubble. She ducked behind in the hope that the extra layer of protection would be enough. Carefully looking around the corner, Rei looked horrified at the young man no more than a few years older than herself lying in a tangle of limbs.   
  
She could only imagine the amount of damage being thrown through a concrete wall had done to him. There was no blood, but Rei could guess that internally he was nothing but jelly after such an impact. So when his head turned in her direction she almost ducked back behind the wall she had been hiding behind.  
  
"I've been expecting you, but as you can see I'm a little busy at the moment," he said before slowly untangling his limbs and standing up. Rei could only watch in disbelief as he started stretching and cracking some of his knuckles. "Ranko told me to expect you, but you should probably stay where you are for the moment. You might get hurt."  
  
Rei ducked back behind the wall of rubble and tried to forget the impossibility of what she had seen but not before she saw him walking back in the direction of the dojo.  
  
*****  
  
Leon McNichol scowled at the pile of scrap metal all that remained of the rogue boomer he had been sent to destroy. There were, also, the bluish smears in the sky, evidence that the Knight Sabers had just beaten them. "Uh oh, looks like were late again Leon–poo," announced his partner who was lounging by the patrol car.  
  
"Damn!" Why couldn't they ever get a break? Stupid vigilantes making the AD Police look bad. Even if they were doing a public service the damn Knight Sabers were doing it the wrong way. If they only worked with the AD Police and not against it, they could be infinitely more effective at cleaning up rogue Boomers.  
  
"McNichols!" a voice blasted across the radio. "There's another rogue Boomer tearing up the Tendo dojo in the old Nerima ward."  
  
"Alright, let's show those Knight Sabers that were more than toy soldiers Wong," he growled grumpily as he checked his gun and jumped back into the car.  
  
"But, compared to the Knight Sabers we are toy soldiers Leon–poo," egged his partner annoyingly.  
  
"Screw it Wong," he growled as he maxed the acceleration. He would beat them to the boomer this time and he would personally make sure that they arrived just in time to clean up there own pile of scrap metal.  
  
*****  
  
Sylia narrowed her eyes grimly. 'Another reaction' she thought. 'It's a good thing Priss and Nene are already suited up, but would the suits be able to go on an extended mission?'  
  
"Priss, Nene, return for a new battery for your suits and head back out. We've got another Boomer to destroy and quickly."  
  
"Another one?" griped Nene "But, we just finished destroying this one."   
  
"So if you don't like it go home," Priss answered harshly. "So, where is it?"  
  
"Old Nerima ward, Tendo dojo. With all the rubble still left over from the old city to assimilate, who knows how dangerous it could get with time so hurry. I want you to remember to keep an eye on each other's gauges. You haven't been on such a long mission before."  
  
"Ahhhgg whatever! You coming or staying Nene?" Priss growled before re-lunching from the observation truck.  
  
"Destroy it totally. Leave nothing left." Sylia reminded Priss again wondering at the occurrence of two rogue bombers so close together.  
  
A/N – I apologize it should only be 6 years since the earthquake. It's been a while since I've seen BGC 2040 and I got it wrong. Well so you know, I'll be using the correct time scale from now on and re-watching it so I won't make the same mistakes. 


	5. Ranma Boomer Benpai Round One

Full Circle II  
  
Chapter 5: Ranma / Boomer Benpai Round One  
  
Ranma's gaze flickered between the heavily armored monstrosity and the students of his school. When he had reentered the dojo he had been prepared for a fight, a fight, which judging from the backhand he had been given would be the most satisfying in decades. Skillfully executed and with enough force to smash him through two walls, it seemed he had finally found an opponent that would top Ryoga's legendary strength.   
  
Ryoga had always been stronger than Ranma while he had been able to keep up but he like all the martial artists in Ranma's life had succumbed to the ravages of time meaning that eventually Ranma through training had become even stronger. Not having to worry about aging helped almost as much as the extra training. This beast though was strong, he couldn't say that about many opponents after the centuries of training he had behind him.  
  
Reentering the dojo in a loose stance he prepared to either take on the dojo destroyer or help evacuate and protect the students of his school. Neither action had been necessary, before he could satisfy his need to go all out and match himself against such a potentially dangerous and skillful opponent the family robot had walked in. It surprised him when the female robots eyes emitted a malevolent red glow effectively halting the rampage of the metallic beast before it had brought the entire dojo down. What sort of technique could freeze a rampaging opponent like that? He couldn't feel an oppressive battle aura and yet the effects had been similar – 'something to think about later.'  
  
"Hurry, we need to get the injured out before the roof collapses." Ranma started in surprise at the actions of Nabiki as she rallied the students, this was a side he had not expected to see in the arrogant Anything Goes heir. Since the destroyer had first crashed into their class she had been frantically organizing the students and evacuating them, already half of the injured had been moved outside by those who had escaped injury.   
  
Ranma had half expected that she would gather the healthier students together and attack the beast in defense of their dojo. That was certainly something he would have done but then he never had to deal with so many injured students or the recognition that his skills were not even close to enough to deal with whatever threat threatened his school. It was an action that would have been both rash and foolhardy; the injured should be the first priority. It was good to see that his first impressions of the girl were wrong. It seemed that all was not lost and that aside from some rough edges she definitely had some potential he could work with. He expected nothing less from his own progeny.   
  
"Ranma, what are you doing just sitting there. You're not injured so how about helping?" Ranma grunted in reply not moving from his position in the corner of the wrecked dojo. Here he had a good view of the class, the armored beast and the hole the class was using to evacuate the injured. It was fascinating watching his school operating in such a disciplined and orderly manner in the face of such an event. Even more so that it was one of his descendants was leading them, but fascinating as watching Nabiki in action was the families robot was what captured most of his attention. The way it morphed into inorganic tentacles of seeming larger mass than its original form and engulfed the large mechanical dojo destroyer was not something he had ever seen before. Its slow absorption of the great mechanical being and its piecing red stare made Ranma shudder, this was something he would definitely need to keep an eye on.  
  
The amount of injury caused by such an insignificant thing as a collapsing roof was another demonstration of the depths to which his school had fallen. A falling roof would have no more than bruised some of the less skilled members of his school while he had been in charge of training. Now he could see broken bones and crushed limbs, what a disaster. "Someone needs to watch to make sure that thing doesn't wake up, if it does who's gonna protect the injured?" he answered arrogantly volunteering himself for such a role. With their limited ability to channel Ki and control their aura there was no way the people in this room would have any hope in defeating this monstrosity in defense of their dojo. Not to mention how, whatever the family robot was doing would affect the strength of ferocity of the dojo destroyer.  
  
"Idiot, there's nothing you can do. Just help us evacuate the wounded, the AD police should be here any minute." Ranma snorted in disbelief, there was no way a police force could deal with something like that. He had met and trained a few people that could possible together stand a chance against the monstrosity but none had been in any police force or armed forces. He just wondered what would happen when it woke up and the police arrived. Not the attractive outcome Nabiki was hoping for he imagined.  
  
"You're relying on police to defeat that? You'll be glad I'm guarding that thing before this is out." He didn't think anyone apart from that girl he had picked up in old Tokyo had seen him getting hit by that thing earlier and he intended to let Ranko do all the fighting for the time being. It was still too early to reveal himself and he was still getting a feeling for the condition of his school. From his earlier discussion his female side had escaped mention in the histories of the schools founding. Either that or Akane just hadn't mentioned her, he liked to think it was the former for what he planed.  
  
Akane had been evacuated with the first of the injured under Suon supervision, his opinion of Nabiki had been raising steadily and the students seemed to be a good group. The only thing his school really lacked was skill; everything else was mostly rough edges, although Suon's behavior under pressure had hardly been impressive and he hadn't seen Kusumi since their conversation in his room.  
  
The sound of gunfire ricocheting of the hardened body of the monstrosity combined with the slamming of the wooden entrance to the dojo caused Ranma to jerk in alarm. Kasumi stood in a daze, staring blankly at the remains of the dojo, the injured students and the great armored robot responsible. She seemed almost oblivious to the danger of the ricocheting bullets or the giant war machine standing in the middle of the Tendo dojo.   
  
"AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!" Nabiki and the other uninjured students doubled their efforts in moving the injured students as further gunfire woke the beast causing resumption in the destruction of the dojo. 'Looks like the police are here, I've yet to find a competent police force,' thought Ranma while considering the bravery or stupidly of such a senseless act. Their bullets were obviously doing more harm than good so why did they persist.  
  
"Kasumi get out of here," Ranma shouted trying to snap the elder Tendo out of her stupor. "Kasumi," Ranma cursed as one of the enormous fists, which had knocked him through the compound wall, demolished what was left of the east wall and continued in its path to strike the still gazed Tendo.   
  
"Damn," Ranma cursed again as he dove for the girl idly dodging the ricocheting bullets and shaking his head seeing that some of his students were not so lucky. Today was going to be a day to remember.

* * *

Leon dropped the clutch and spun the back wheels in an attempt to slow the speeding patrol car. "Alright, we beat the Sabers" he announced in triumph loading his gun with armour piecing rounds in preparation for engaging the rogue boomer.  
  
"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea this time Leon," muttered Daley looking up at the monstrous armored Boomer as it towered over the remains of the Tendo dojo. It looked silent as survivors made their way out of a hole in one of the stonewalls surrounding the complex in an orderly manner. Only the malicious red glow of the eyes gave the boomer away, the evil glare of a rogue boomer inspired fear in those who had ever witnessed the amount of destruction and injury they could create.   
  
"What are you…." Leon stared before getting a good look rogue Boomer for the first time. "What the hell is that, damn Genom – what where they thinking when they built that." An obvious military modal such as this should never have been built let alone allowed anywhere near Tokyo. Still he could appreciate the need for heavily armored weapons in some circumstances, mostly combating rogue Boomers. It made no sense to him creating heavily armed boomers.  
  
"Still think we should've beat the Night Sabers here Leon?"  
  
"Screw it Wong. You've got a gun use it," Leon snapped as he clicked a new magazine in place a started firing on the beast.  
  
"I don't know what that things is made if but I think we woke it up," shouted Daley as he reloaded his clip and resumed his firing.   
  
"Damn headquarters what's taking them so long," shouted Leon as he watched his armour piercing rounds bouncing of the surface of the Boomer. There was no way he and his partner could take the boomer down by themselves and the Knight Sabers could be arriving at any time.  
  
"I hate to say it but it looks like we may need the Knight Sabers this time Leon. Reinforcements are not going help much with that. We aren't even scratching it."  
  
"Didn't I say to scr….what," Leon cut of in surprised confusion, focusing his gun fire at the blur which was heading straight at him from the direction of the boomer. He cursed as the clip ran out but before he could even thing of reloading or diving out of the way the blur snap-kicked his gun out of his hands and back-fisting his partners into the windscreen of his patrol car.  
  
Leon took a step back, a little intimidated by the furious expression on the young man that so suddenly materialized from the blur and appeared in his face. Something about the young man screamed 'run away' making him all too aware that just a moment ago he had been shooting at him. The crashing of his windscreen shattering when Daley's gun struck it, clearly demonstrated the strength of the man in front of him.  
  
"What is it about cops and their guns," the young mans distain at their profession was obvious from his expressions. "Here," he announced thrusting an unconscious young woman into his arms. "The survivors are gathering over there make your self useful - there's injured. Broken bones, crushing and penetrating wounds and…" Leon took another step back as he growled out "gunshot wounds."  
  
"The cavalries arrived," Daley joked trying to lighten the atmosphere. Ranma looked to where he pointed and shook his head at the blue streaks rapidly approaching. "Go," he commanded the two policemen before once again approached the dojo. The two AD policemen hurried to where he had pointed and so there was none to watch as his curse activated.   
  
Most of the students had been evacuated and Ranko had arrived just in time for the real fight to begin.

* * *

"What is that thing Priss?" Nene's worried whine blared over the communication systems as the rogue boomer came into view. The huge mechanical beast towered over what was once the Tendo dojo, there wasn't much left standing as the fiend continued its rampage. She was impressed at the orderly manner in which people where evacuating the area. Normally more people were injured from the stream of panicked people than from the rogue boomer, particularly if they got there within minutes of detecting a reaction in the boomers core. Such a reaction took some to completely corrupt a Boomers core giving them some leeway, it was only at times like this where they had to replace their batteries that Rogue boomers had anytime to cause huge amounts of damage.  
  
"Its just a bigger and uglier boomer than we've dealt with before Nene. Let me occupy it, you just find its core so I can destroy it quickly, tonight's already been long enough." Sylia was paying them for every boomer destroyed, so there wasn't much point taking their time. "Move it Nene, the AD police are already here," she growled as Nene perched on what was left of the compound wall.  
  
"Don't worry so much Priss, until reinforcements arrive there's not much that those two detectives can do to us. Besides there's so much information here," Nene murmured as she started sorting through the data coming in from her instruments.  
  
"Yeah, and for once they are looking after the injured instead of …Nene!!" Priss screamed in disbelieve as a tentacle like arm speed from behind a pile of rubble and smashed her companion into one of the ruined skyscrapers that abounded old Tokyo. 'How many times had Sylia warned them about the rogue boomers and how dangerous they were,' Priss berated herself. Still all the others she had fought them they had been satisfied with destroying or absorbing the surrounding materials making themselves stronger. From her limited experience, rogue Boomers rarely attacked outside of their immediate vicinity unless they were attacked themselves, she had not expected this one to be any different.   
  
"Nene, answer me. Nene!!" Priss tried desperately to get her younger team member on the communications channel even though the scrapped remains of her suit was embedded into the concrete wall. "Damn you!!" she screamed at the overly armored Boomer as she prepped her knuckle bombs. She could only imagine what was left of Nene from the mangled remains of Nene's suit.  
  
"Calm down and report Priss," Sylia urged over the communications channel. "Priss!! What's going on?" Sylia's persistent questions tuned themselves out into a drone of monosyllable muttering as Priss's adrenalin surged. Switching her radio off, Priss charged the beast "Die!!!" she screamed as images of Nene flashed through her head. Jumping off the compound wall and landing on the back of its huge neck Priss slammed her fist down between its shoulders detonating her knuckle bombs. "Eat this Boomer!!" she shouted in anger amidst the boom and smoke of her knuckle bombs exploding.  
  
"What the hell?" she cried in strangled pain and confusion, cradling the shredded remains of her suits arm. Flicking her radio back on as her shock flushed the adrenalin out of her system causing her to calm down. "Sylia what the hell is this monster made off," she demanded. "There's barely a scratch on it thing and my suits wrecked."   
  
"We'll talk about it later, for now you need to get Nene and withdraw. Priss do you hear me. Damn it Priss answer me," Sylia slammed the headset down in frustration from the communications van she was using as a headquarters. At this rate things would not end happily for them unless she broke out that thing. She had promised herself she wouldn't and for a while it had seemed that Nene and Priss were handling things well enough that she would never have too. Had she left it to late to recruit a new member?

* * *

Ranma slowly cracked the knuckles in both hands from where he watched the beast wiping the floor with the two new fighters. Knight Sabers, what a stupid name for such a weak pair. They weren't much better than those two fools from the police. He wasn't sure which one was worse, the one in the pink tech – suit or the one wearing the blue.   
  
At first he was a little surprised at finding some moderately strong female auras inside the suits, but after thinking about it a little, it made sense. In a society, which had lost its skill, its warriors would have to out of necessity look for alternatives. It was a novel solution; a suit would be much harder to disarm than a sword or gun – if there had been able to use them effectively.   
  
Watching them fight from his hiding place was almost painful though, the pink suited girl just sat there waiting for the thing to hit her. That tactic wasn't so bad, he had done so himself on occasion. It was a good way to judge an opponents strength and fighting spirit. Take the hit and then viciously counterattack with a speed which would overcome there defenses. What made him shake his head in dismay though was the fact that she had been mangled so easily, surely she would have known the limitation of her suit before accepting a hit like that.  
  
Seeing her companion taken out so easily had seemingly enraged the blue suited one. Her attack was ineffective and actually damaged her more than it did the mechanical beast she was fighting. It wasn't long before she was knocked off her perch and joined the other one as a mangled mess on the sidelines. "Sad really, I just think of the potential of those suits with just a little bit of training. What a waste." He could well imagine himself in a suit before he dismissed the idea. He was more than powerful enough without one. Besides such a power up could only be described as a crutch. Besides unless he wore the suit constantly he would be unable to instantly respond to challenges like this one.  
  
"Heh, its time for me to show my stuff then," Ranma grinned stepping out once he was sure that the two girls were out of the fight. He hated people interrupting his fights and was sure the girls would feel the same way he did about it. He didn't feel any guilt about there injuries since he was sure that their suits would have absorbed most of the damage.  
  
"AAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" the beast roared as Ranma charged, after having finished destroying what was left of the dojo and surrounding compound, demolishing those techno suited vigilantes and giving him a few warning swipes whenever he got close it had started approaching the survivors of the attack. "Lets go!!" Ranma yelled in reply to the beasts challenge, the bright orange locks of his female form trailed brightly behind him as he dodged the metallic tentacles the beast had sprouted in response to the attackers.  
  
"Hey," Ranma shouted in consternation as one of the tentacles he had lazily dodged suddenly branched off, splitting in two and enveloping his arm in a firm grip with a speed he had been unprepared for. "What the.." he muttered darkly as the tentacle morphed into a giant hand and tightened. Slowly crushing his arm in a vice-like grip, the sound of his ulna grinding against his radius and then cracking echoed through the surroundings bringing everyone's attention to the red haired demon fighting the mechanical dojo destroyer.  
  
Ranma just shook his head in a numb amazement, nothing had been strong enough to crack his bones for two hundred years. There was nothing man made that should have been strong enough or hard enough, but here was a beast that had cracked both bones in his arm beneath the elbow and if it continued to tighten its grip threatened to shatter them. His arm would be a mangled mess beneath the beasts grip if he didn't do something. Sure he was weaker in his female form but still..?  
  
Almost by reflex a distal-tapered Dao appeared in his other hand severing the tendril that held him allowing him time to counterattack before his other limbs suffered the same fate. As strong as this beast was he could not afford to play around even if the immediate area had been evacuated. Cradling the remains of his mangled arm Ranma considered the last time he had been caught unawares in a fight. Too long, maybe it was the kind of injury he needed to suffer before he became too convinced of his superiority.  
  
Ignoring the sickening way his arm hung, he launched himself amongst the armada of tentacles in preparation for round two.  
  
A/N – Sorry guys, a little short perhaps but it seemed appropriate to stop here.  
  
- Thanks to Nuvares and Teal Thanatos, without who this chapter would have been Redefined honor or Trust. It is they who persuaded me to continue FC II. 


End file.
